


Moments in Between

by MysticDreamer



Series: All The Steps Taken Back Home [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Multi, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:27:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26058691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticDreamer/pseuds/MysticDreamer
Summary: Memories from simpler times, when they were just starting to get to know each other.Moments that stayed in their hearts, even if other pressing issues pushed it to the back of their minds.A look, a touch, thoughts they don't understand.A bond forms, a sense of closeness is felt.Alternatively, the moments that bonded Team 7 together for the rest of their lives.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura/Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: All The Steps Taken Back Home [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1891741
Comments: 30
Kudos: 112





	1. First Mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Team 7. I've been desperate to have their emotional development be more fleshed out and decided to do so myself. I don't know how long this will be, but I plan to make this a series that follows them from childhood into post-war adulthood.

Naruto felt as if his heart was about to burst from his chest from the damn excitement he felt. Today was his first official mission with his team. Finally, he was beginning to walk the very first steps towards his dream of eventually becoming Hokage.

He arrived at the designated meeting spot, on the bridge by the training grounds on the outskirts of the village, noticing his two other teammates were already there.

He leaned against the railing on one side of the bridge and enthusiastically greeted Sakura, while only sparing his other teammate a side glance and a glare.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, placing his hands in his pockets. Inwardly, he was excited for the day just as much as Naruto. Finally, a step towards his own goal. A chance for real world experience.

The kids stood mostly in awkward silence, Sakura at one point attempting to make small talk with Sasuke only to be met with one-word answers.

An hour or so passed by and Kakashi-sensei finally arrived, one hand raised as greeting towards his new students. “Sorry I’m late, there was this old lady who needed help getting her porridge to cool down, so I had to help her.”

“Ehh?” Sakura and Naruto let out at the same time, looking at each other before nodding in agreement and shouting, “Liar!”

Their fingers pointed accusingly at their new teacher, however, he ignored them going on to mention that they were due to be meeting the Hokage at his office in about five minutes.

“Five?! But we’re all the way on the other side of town, ‘ttebayo!”

“Well, then we better get a move on,” Kakashi said jumping up and onto the railing before moving quickly in the direction out of the training grounds.

Team 7 quickly jumped up and followed after their sensei, struggling to keep up with him.

On their way there, Sakura absentmindedly thought to herself if this was his way of training his students. Keeping them on their toes as they mentally prepare for their first mission. Her heartbeat quickened as she wondered just what kind of mission her team would be getting.

After arrival to the Hokage’s office they waited to be let into the room where they would be assigned their first real mission as a team.

“Ah, hey, hey, what kind of mission do you think we’ll get, huh?” Naruto chirped, moving his weight between his two feet in anticipation.

They were let in before anyone could answer, greeted by the Hokage and other ninja in the room.

“Alright Team 7, welcome. Looks like this is your first official mission. Today you’ll be helping clean out the old apartments in the Independent Civilians district, preparing them for new residents.”

Upon hearing this Sasuke raised his eyebrow, Sakura tilted her head in confusion, and Naruto frowned.

“What do you mean we’re going to cleaning out those nasty old apartments?! We’re real ninja now, so we should be getting a real mission ‘ttebayo!”

The third Hokage took a small puff from the pipe he was holding in his hand, taking moment to enjoy his drag before letting it out slowly.

“Naruto, this is a real mission. You’ll be doing something productive to help the residents of our village.”

“But—”

“Before you can be sent on more serious missions, you first must do your part to help out our own home. It’s a step every ninja must take.” A Chūnin sitting on the Hokage’s left stated flatly.

Naruto crossed his arms stubbornly, looking away as he pouted.

Kakashi nodded at his team reassuringly before picking up the scroll and officially accepting their first mission as a team.

On the way there, Sasuke was silent – even as Sakura attempted to make small talk with him again. Her inner Sakura encouraging her even when she received short and dry answers, while Naruto grumbled to himself softly.

Once arriving to the apartment complex, Kakashi picked up the universal key from the owner – an old lady in her early 90s – and lead his team towards the first apartment they would be cleaning.

Upon looking inside team 7 all had varying reactions of disgust.

Sakura squeaked, because oh my gosh what was that smell.

Sasuke dawned a face of disgust.

Naruto just stared. Eh, he’d seen worse. A memory of his first foster care home flashed before his eyes. He dismissed the memory, as he was used to doing every time his mind traveled back to that time in his life.

Besides the grime, and a weird smell coming from the fridge, the apartment wasn’t in awful condition.

They noticed cleaning supplies had been left for their use in the kitchen.

“Alright, well while you guys get to it, I’ll go ahead and get some nice smelling candles from the supply shop across the street to help freshen up the place” Kakashi-sensei said as he grabbed his book from his back pouch.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow, doubting his teacher.

Sakura sighed and walked to pick up the supplies.

Naruto grumbled about how this totally sucked as far as first missions went.

The thing about cleaning is, unless you know how to do it right all you end up doing is move dirt around from one place to another.

Since Naruto had no one to teach him basic life skills, he thought the easiest way to get the job done was to start mopping the floor.

Sakura turned to face him when she heard him splash down cleaner on the floor and let out a dramatic gasp. “Naruto, what the hell are you doing?!”

“What, I’m cleaning like I’m supposed to ‘ttebayo!”

“Ugh, no, you can’t just start mopping!”

“Uh, why not?”

“Do you seriously not know how to clean?”

“Sakura-chan of course I do.”

“Well, then why are you mopping?”

“What, do you want to do it or something?”

“Dobe, are you messing around with her?” Sasuke interjected.

“Eh? Teme, shut up! I’m seriously not, Sakura-chan!”

Sakura sighed, “Okay, so I’m just going to lean on this whole ‘boys are more gross’ stereotype for a second and simply explain something to you. You always clean from the top to the bottom–”

“Why?”

“Becauuuuse, Naruto, you’re there’s always fly away dirt and grime especially in a place like this. So, you let the dirt fall, and save the floor for last. Duh!”

“Oh. That makes sense. Guess I’ve been cleaning my apartment wrong this whole time.” He snorted. Finding humor in himself.

Sakura pauses, remembering how this little important piece of life advise was first explained to her by her mother when she was younger. Hm. She decides to cut him some slack.

“C’mon help me find something to stand on so I can clean the tops of the cabinets in the kitchen.”

“I’ll go start cleaning up the bedrooms.” Sasuke stated simply before wandering off to the first of three bedrooms.

They do their menial tasks in relative silence. Dusting, wiping the glass windows and countertops.

Sasuke meets them back at the kitchen letting them know he swept up the rooms and would wait for them so they could mop the apartments entire floor in one go, before joining in to wipe down the shelves in the pantry silently.

“So, are we going to talk about it?” Naruto breaks the silence a few moments later.

His teammates look at him questionably.

“That smell is nasty, I know you smell it too ‘ttebayo.”

“I’m think it’s the fridge, but I’m afraid to see what’s in there.” Sakura states.

They look between themselves before deciding they might as well brave the strange smell together.

“We’re a team ‘ttebayo!”

Sakura nods in agreement. Sasuke takes a deep breath before placing his hand on the fridge handle. He opens it to find dirt, grime, and molding food and milk in there.

They all gag.

“Ew!” Squeals Sakura.

“Gross.” Whispers Sasuke.

“How long you think it’s been in there?” Questions Naruto.

“My question is what kind of people leave food when moving out of an apartment!” Sakura replies.

“Yo, look at this! The expiration on this thing is from like a year ago. Either the people who lived here before moved out forever ago or they were just some gross ass people!”

“Probably just gross people, if they left the apartment like this after moving out.” Sasuke added.

Sakura and Naruto look at Sasuke, experiencing the mutual realization that this is the longest sentence he’s ever said to them in a casual conversation.

The three of them laugh.

Afterwards, they get to cleaning. Making varying sounds of disgust as they wipe down the grime in the fridge. Slowly, the atmosphere around them begins to change. Before cleaning up felt like a chore. Now, it still is a chore, but at least the mood is much more lighthearted.

They throw away the expired food, and head to the bathroom, to finish up.

Upon entering the bathroom, they are once again disgusted. Dirt, grime and what looks like slime is everywhere.

Sharing a look once again, they all chuckle when they realize they’re all sharing the same face of horror.

Sakura sighs and puts her hair up out of her face.

Naruto thinks the back of her neck is pretty.

Sasuke thinks she looks good with it up, that it’s more practical that way because cleaning with bangs in your face is kind of annoying. He knows this because he usually clips back his hair when he cleans. But he’s not going to do that in front of these two strangers. It’s embarrassing and besides no one has seen him like that since – he stops a painful memory from resurfacing, replacing it with daunting red eyes before he scowls and focuses on the bathtub that has black dirt all over it.

Naruto looks down too, a memory of a shower that only ran cold water comes to mind. He’s learned a lot about cleaning from Sakura today. He’s honestly really grateful, he never learned how to maintain a household from anyone but was somehow expected to at such a young age, after being forced out of that rundown foster home. He rolls his shoulders ignoring that pin needle feeling of anger he usually feels when he focuses on those days for too long.

They get to work, each attacking a different area of the bathroom. They work diligently, unaware of how well they can work around one another.

It’s funny that they don’t realize that they have the makings of a good team, Kakashi thinks to himself. He’s been checking in on them sparingly throughout their time at that apartment, not that his students have noticed.

He likes observing them when they don’t think he’s watching, and he’s glad that he can see the makings of a good team. It’s all in the way they flow around one another.

Sakura moves back from the sink she’s scrubbing to grab the toilet bowl cleaner at the same Sasuke moves away from wiping said toilet down. She glances at him and hands him the cleaner, before stepping to the tub to help clean the grime. Naruto notices the movement of his teammates and steps in the tub to clean the walls better. All of them are moving diligently, swiftly, and most importantly in sync.

They don’t realize it at all, but that’s what makes a great team. How you can adjust to small changes in your teams’ movements is what can determine life or death in the most serious of situations and make moving around one another easier in the simplest of ones.

They carry that same energy into the next apartment they clean. Flowing around one another, never getting in the way.

The kids notice at one point that they’re getting things done pretty quickly, that they’re moving in an efficient rhythm.

Sakura thinks it’s because there’s not much for the boys to get competitive about, there’s not much of a science to cleaning. Unless you count the cleaning chemicals. Those are science, she muses.

Sasuke thinks it’s because he likes cleaning. He was taught to be tidy at a young age. An Uchiha trait that was drilled into him, because it’s important to know where everything is so it leads to less stress.

Naruto thinks it’s because he likes cleaning too. He hates how much of a chore it feels like, but he has his tastes for aesthetics. Not funds, but definitely tastes. A minimalist life appeals to him, not like he’s ever had too much to worry about anyways.

Naruto pauses for a minute. They’ve gotten to the last apartment and he’s currently helping mop the living room area. He looks out the sliding glass door that leads to a balcony. He loves balconies, anything with a place to sit outside he really likes. He notices now how the apartment catches the sun; somehow it leaves him feeling melancholy.

“Oi, Dobe, what are you staring at?” Sasuke says as he stares at him in annoyance.

Naruto, normally, would turn to Sasuke and try to come up with some sort of retort about minding his business because seriously at this point Sasuke must have permanent residency status under his skin with how much the Teme annoys him, but the sun is setting. They’ve been cleaning all day and he’s not necessarily drained of his energy, but he is hungry and tired so instead he simply points and says, “Look at the way the sun is coming in, it’s nice.”

Sasuke looks, thinks about how it reminds him of a painting the way the sun carries the shadow of the glass door across the room.

“I love this kind of lighting. You can take the best photos in it.” Sakura chimes in. Naruto nods his head in agreement.

This naturally leads the conversation to photography. Turns out Sakura’s mom does film photography as a side business.

The boys knew she had a civilian family, but it was still odd for Sasuke to hear about a family not affected by the ninja lifestyle – her mom sounded like a simple lady. Naruto, on the other hand, was just curious if this is what it was like to have a family, if maybe his parents would have had small little hobbies that he would have been able to talk about with his teammates too. 

Both boys, for a brief second, think about their mothers. One sees a clear image in his head, another can’t see anything. Both listen to Sakura absentmindedly as she continues.

“You know my mom is actually buddy buddy with the town photographer, the one that took our photos when we first became Genin. I bet she can have him take a group photo of us!”

“That sounds like a great idea, Sakura-chan,” their Sensei says as he finally reveals himself.

All three Genin jump, startled by the intrusion.

“Oi, Kakashi-sensei where the heck have you been?! You left us here by ourselves ‘ttebayo!”

Kakashi offered him a small chuckle, “Well seems like you all did a good job without me looks like you’re all done.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you ‘ttebayo.”

“Shut up, Naruto.” Sakura says as she rolls her eyes.

“I’m taking it you all got along nicely?” Kakashi inquires.

“Hn. Dobe didn’t mess anything up, so that made life easier.” Sasuke claims.

“Huh, shut up, teme. How can you even mess up at cleaning?”

“You’re the one who didn’t know how to clean until Sakura explained it to you.”

Naruto glared at Sasuke and began to raise his fists, Sasuke returned his glare with electrifying intensity. Sakura wondered where the calm energy they all held just a moment ago went and Kakashi-sensei just sighed.

“Now, now, no time for fighting. We still have to report back to the Hokage now that our first official mission is over!” Kakashi said as he harshly patted his two male students on the back.

They grumbled but obliged.

The sun set on Team 7’s first mission as they arrived to the Hokage’s office.

They reported the completion of their mission, Naruto grumbled and wanted to ask for something more serious but decided against it. Figured that if he wanted to be Hokage, he has to be willing to show he can put in the work for it. Hopefully he wouldn’t be stuck with these silly missions for too long or he really would have to start hounding the Sandime.

They got their payment and left. Kakashi reminded them that they would be doing some necessary training tomorrow, that they should be at the training grounds bright and early for it.

Saying their goodbyes outside the Hokage’s building they began in their separate directions.

Naruto towards Ichiraku’s because boy did he work up a big appetite. He always did, no matter what he was doing.

Sasuke towards the grocery store, because he was hungry too and craving some onigiri.

Sakura towards her house, food on her mind as she wondered what her mother made for dinner.

Kakashi watched as they left, a nostalgic feeling filling his heart before pulling out a book in his back pouch and started the walk towards his own apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I've shared my writing, I hope its enjoyable :)


	2. Training Grounds & Grocery Lists

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are many kinds of silence.
> 
> Some are painful and others are comforting.
> 
> Sasuke experiences both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place right before they leave for the Land of Waves.

The sun began to peak up as the cool breeze of the night began to carry the morning dew smell through the entire village hidden in the leaves.

Sasuke awoke with a small groan, greeting the silence with a sigh. Today was a training day, the type of days he looked the most forward to. These days allowed him to feel as if he was being productive and working towards his goals.

Over the past few months him and his team had been switching between training and taking on D-Rank missions that simply involved them taking on menial tasks.

He hated those days the most, feeling like he was not only wasting his time but also running against the clock. The silence of his small apartment surrounded him, and he felt that way even more. He wasn’t sure what it was about the silence, but he knew why he held a disdain for it.

He was never raised with silence, instead he was raised with the soft hum of his mother’s voice or the sound of training in the Uchiha compound. The hustle and bustle of life that constantly moved around him.

Now there was only silence. You can hear the soft drip of the faucet in the bathroom or the pitter patter of the morning rain. In the mornings there was always a soft drizzle that came with the morning sun, when he was younger it was comforting to hear. Now, it just made the silence feel louder.

Shaking his painful memories away from him, he rose.

If he worked hard, he would eventually rid himself of the tightness the silence made him feel.

He went through the motions. Wake up, brush teeth, use bathroom, dress and try and figure out breakfast. He was not big on cooking, never really had the opportunity to learn.

He made himself some bread with jam after realizing that’s all he really had, making a mental note that he needed to go grocery shopping after training today before heading out to start the day.

Eventually Sasuke arrived at the bridge that him and his teammates sort of considered their spot. He’s not sure when it happened, but at one point there was no longer a need to assign a meeting point. They always knew where it was, the third red bridge in the training grounds on the outskirts of the village.

Sasuke put his hands in his pockets and waited.

Sakura was the first to join him, always wanting to have a little one-on-one time with him before the day really started.

She attempted some small talk with him, but like always he was dry, and the conversation soon fell flat. Inwardly, Sakura reprimanded herself. Here she had yet another opportunity to speak with her crush privately and yet it felt as if no progress was being made.

It seemed like he had no interest in speaking with her and he really didn’t. Now, he didn’t hate Sakura by any means because all his hate was solely reserved for one person in his life. He just didn’t understand why she didn’t take what they were doing seriously. I mean why else be a ninja? Even Naruto with all his loudmouth attitude had a really legit goal he was working towards. At this point, he felt that he had more in common with Naruto than he ever would with Sakura.

Speaking of Naruto, he was walking towards the bridge with his usual happy aura surrounding him. Hands behind his head, he seemed to be humming a soft tune.

“Good morning Sakura-chan,” Naruto said in a sing-song voice before nodding towards Sasuke.

Over the past few months it wasn’t that they had even remotely begun to acknowledge on another as equals, but they had at least got past the whole I don’t like you so I’m not going to talk to you thing.

Sakura had been the one to make this point, saying “You can’t really be a team if two members refuse to talk to one another.”

Both Naruto and Sasuke had to hand it over to her, because her point was valid, and they conceded silently deciding that they would keep things cordial.

Naruto leaned against the bridge and began humming again. He had heard a song on the radio the other day and since then it had been stuck in his head.

“Oh my gosh, are you like a 2P fan?” Sakura said. For a second, Sasuke thought that Sakura was talking to him and was about to roll his eyes. She must have figured that bringing up something she was into would be her way of finally breaking the ice with him. But he noticed she wasn’t looking at him, she was actually looking at Naruto. It felt weird to see her give Naruto genuine interest and attention, he could not explain why it felt weird to him.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, his new single has been stuck in my head since I heard it on the radio the other day, but I haven’t been able to find a cassette for it,” Naruto lied, he wasn’t allowed in the village’s only record store. Don’t ask him, he didn’t know – well, now he did but he didn’t like to think about the reason why.

“Oh, I bet, it’s super popular. I actually have been looking for one too but every time I go to the record store it’s sold out!”

“Aw man, that sucks.”

“I know, but I’m hoping my dad is able to find one in one of the villages he’s visiting for some merchant sales.”

That was another thing the boys had learned about Sakura since becoming her teammate. Her parents were both merchant dealers and traveled a lot because of their work. Naruto had asked what had made them settle down in their village and Sakura had pointed out that the safest place for a merchant dealer to live in is a ninja village because it’s harder to get into and steal merchant supplies from.

In another life, the boys probably would have been able to understand the frustrations Sakura felt at having her parents constantly traveling for work. There was disconnect in the things they were able to relate to and understand about one another’s lives. In this life, they never really understood why she was so frustrated with how her parents minimized the importance of the ninja lifestyle or chose a life that constantly had them moving and traveling and missing out on Sakura’s stories and life.

 _At least she had parents to complain about._ Sasuke and Naruto both thought this but had never verbalized it out loud.

“Well, if he finds one you should let me borrow it ‘ttebayo!”

“I might, if you play your cards right.” Sakura smirked, crossing her arms.

Over the past few months, Sakura was surprised by how easily the rapport between her and Naruto had developed. She had wished that this would be the reality between her and Sasuke, but Naruto was someone she just clicked with. Maybe it was because, in a way, they were somewhat similar. Passionate and a bit hot-headed at times. Even though he could still get on her last nerve, she didn’t get annoyed with him as much anymore.

To Sakura, bickering wasn’t a sign of disdain, it was a sign of mutual fondness. So, when she bickered with Naruto it wasn’t from a malicious place. And when she saw Naruto and Sasuke bickering she saw that as their own unique form of banter.

“Oh, all right, I’ll be good to you.” Naruto said smoothly, giving his signature toothy grin.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Was this flirting? If it was, he didn’t like that they were. Wasn’t Sakura supposed to be crushing on him? Was this another thing she wasn’t serious about and why did he care? He didn’t. Absolutely not.

Eventually Kakashi-sensei showed up with a lame excuse in tow.

Naruto and Sakura both yelled at their sensei in annoyance, because seriously what was the point in lying. Why even set a time to meet up if their sensei was always going to be late?

Kakashi had his reasons and he supposed that his students needed time to get to know each other too. How can you be a team if you can’t even get along with one another, and how can you get along with one another if you don’t even know each other? While it wasn’t the reason he was always late it was, however, a result he was hoping would come from his own tardiness.

Kakashi lead his team to the actual training grounds and had them begin working on their Taijutsu before moving onto Ninjutsu.

Running laps, doing push-ups, kunai coordination and working on chakra control.

Sasuke had the discipline and form.

Naruto had the stamina.

Sakura had the chakra control, even if her chakra reserves weren’t as big as Sasuke’s and as large as Naruto’s.

With this the day flew by as it always did when they trained. A sort of nostalgic feeling filled Kakashi, as it always did when he was with his team. They reminded him of a time in his life when he was the one receiving the training and learning to get along with a teammate, one he didn’t easily get along with at first.

Kakashi played around with the memories filling his mind for a moment longer before dismissing them and calling his student’s attention.

Team 7 gave their attention to their sensei and he gave them his notes for the day.

Sasuke took this part very seriously, this is what he needed. To train and learn what he could be doing better. Kakashi-sensei always had good pointers for him too, which made him very attentive to anything his teacher could offer him.

Naruto, on the other hand, hated being critiqued. It chipped away at his self-esteem and frustrated him. Naruto, while a bit of an oblivious idiot, was hyperaware of his own emotions and as a result other’s. He had to be. It was a survival instinct. You need to know who’s trying to hurt you if you are to avoid the pain of their rejection. Now, he supposed he just needed to learn that someone critiquing you isn’t a form of rejection. Packing away the residual feelings that swam in his stomach from the trauma of his past he put it away in that small little corner in his mind labeled “Do Not Touch.”

Sakura was a bit red faced, letting the exhaustion of the day show the most clearly in her deep breathing and absent-minded look. Her legs hurt and her heart was pounding but she tried her best to listen as Kakashi-sensei gave her his notes.

Then, the three were dismissed for the day or better said evening.

Sasuke remembered his earlier mental note and began the walk out of the training grounds as he made a mental list of everything he needed. Naruto and Sakura following him a few paces behind.

At first Sasuke didn’t think much of it, I mean there was only one way out. But then after they made it towards the dirt road of the village, he noticed they were all still walking in the same direction.

Sakura, whether she noticed Sasuke’s questioning glance or not, broke their silence.

“So, what’s everyone up to now?”

“Grocery shopping.” Naruto and Sasuke said in union before staring at one another. They shared a look of mutual contempt. They hated when they said things in union, it was annoying and kind of weird.

“Oh, me too! Let’s all go together, yeah?”

Both just shrugged before walking towards the grocery store in the inner part of the village.

Once they made it there, they decided it would be best to get a big cart so everyone could fill it with their own needs, and no one had to carry around a heavy basket.

Entering the aisle where Naruto would find his ramen and Sasuke his TV-dinners, they began to pile up while Sakura got herself some of her favorite snacks.

“Whoa, guys, leave some room for veggies and some real meat!” Sakura reprimanded softly.

“What are you talking about, these are my go-to meals ‘ttebayo!”

“How are you not dead from all that sodium?” Sakura asked, shock apparent in her eyes.

Naruto shrugged and stuck out his tongue. So, ramen just so happened to be his comfort food, sue him.

“This stuff isn’t good for you, and what’s with the TV dinners?”

“That’s your boy Sasuke, so don’t look at me ‘ttebayo.”

“Sasuke, really?” Sakura said with an eyebrow raised and her hands on her hips.

Sasuke didn’t like the look she was fixing him with. He didn’t know how to cook that well, so sue him.

“Oh, come on the both of you.” Sakura demanded as she took the cart from Sasuke’s hands and lead them towards the refrigerated section which held meat on one end and vegetables on the other.

Picking up a pack of meat, she held it out to them and said, “See, this is what the two of you need to be eating. Real food and not that processed crap you both seem to love.”

“Sakura, do you see how expensive this is? No way am I going to be getting this and besides I don’t even know how to cook ‘ttebayo!”

“Hate to agree with the Dobe, but the last time I tried to cook steak I burned it.”

“Oh, I see, well, let me cook dinner for the both of you then.”

A beat passes as both boys look at her in stunned silence. She’s offering to cook for them? This is bringing up confusing feelings the both of them don’t know how to deal with. It’s been a long time since Sasuke’s had a home cooked meal. Naruto has never had one.

Sakura doesn’t understand what the big deal is, but under their scrutiny she starts to feel anxious. She doesn’t understand that her offer isn’t a simple one, it’s packed with meaning for the two young boys.

After a moment, Sasuke speaks.

“Whose house?”

“We can do mine! I have all that I need there, so it’ll be easy.” Sakura says happily.

“But what about your parents?” Naruto questions softly. He knows how parents tend to feel about him and really doesn’t want to be kicked out after receiving such a nice offer. It would hurt too much.

“Oh, they’re out of town until tomorrow. Remember, I told you my dad’s visiting villages for merchant sales? Well, he took my mom with him this time, something about needing her help with something.”

“Oh okay! Well, if you’re sure then I’m in!”

“Me too, I guess.” Sasuke doesn’t know why he agrees. It’s a toss-up between being tempted by the offer of a home cooked meal and not liking the idea of Naruto and Sakura alone together in her house. They’re a team, it should be the three of them.

Sakura’s overcome with happiness. Not only is she going to be spending real time with Sasuke, he’s going to be eating her food. That’s kind of couple-y if she thinks about it too hard. Yeah, Naruto will be there, but she realizes in this instance she doesn’t really mind. The poor guy has probably never had a home cooked meal. A pang of sadness scratches at her heart, gone after just a moment.

 _Oh._ Sakura realizes that this isn’t just them hanging out. That this must be somewhat meaningful to both of them, for different reasons. Sakura knows a little bit of Sasuke’s past, not the details but something. She knows his parents are no longer with him. She knows that Naruto’s parents were never with him. Determination swells in her, she needs to make sure they eat something good. That this memory of a home cooked meal is a good one, a meaningful one for all three of them.

Finishing up at the grocery store after getting everything Sakura needs, they make their way to her home.

When they arrive the first thing Naruto and Sasuke notice is how the energy in her home is completely different to the one in theirs.

Naruto and Sasuke glance at one another, sharing a look that carries all the words they can’t verbalize.

_Is this what a home should be?_

When it came to the pain of loneliness, there was this unspoken understanding they both found in one another. And sometimes, like right now, they found it comforting.

Sakura ties up her hair, turning on the radio and getting to work in the kitchen telling the boys to get comfortable.

They both sit down at the dinner table. Sakura, being a good hostess, brings them water. Before either of the boys can ask if she needs any help she says, “Dinner is going to be my treat, since we’ve been working hard. You both just wait here, yeah?”

Another glance shared between Naruto and Sasuke. The emotions stirring in their eyes. They not only find their mutual understanding comforting, they find Sakura’s softness comforting too. For them, it’s difficult to put into words. She’s so far removed from their world and experiences. Yet, she fills their world up just a little bit. Brings them to her world of home cooked meals and warmth.

Sasuke realizes this is why he actually agreed to this. Because he wanted _this_. A single moment of peace.

Sakura begins to hum and Sasuke is brought back to the safe place his mother always took him to when she hummed quietly as she prepared meals for their family. He almost can’t handle the feeling of nostalgia that threatens to overcome him.

He breathes softly. In and out.

He decides in that moment that if Sakura can make him feel this, then she’s someone worth protecting. And if he can share this kind of understanding with the Dobe than he’s someone worth protecting too. That maybe, just maybe, he can accept that these two are his teammates and that they should be watching out for one another.

The song that has been stuck in Naruto’s head all day comes on the radio and he jumps up ready to turn the volume up. Sakura beats him to it, and they sing along together. Sasuke is in the back tapping along to the beat, because it actually is kind of a good song even if he isn’t the biggest fan of rap and hip-hop.

If someone were to look in at them now, to a stranger and on looker, they might just look like a family. A quirky one, but a sort of family nonetheless.

Sakura finishes her cooking and serves her two boys the meal. She prays they like it. Each take a bite and immediately she’s relived. She can tell by the look on their faces that they do.

They eat mostly in silence, but Sasuke finds that he doesn’t mind it too much this time around.

Something about sharing the silence makes it easier to bear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspiration hit again. Thank you for your patience.


	3. Small Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the small things that bring people together, memories that sit right behind the things that tied them together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sakura's a teenager, and one that hasn't had horrific trauma to define her pre-teen years. I hate when people write her off as useless because she doesn't have the "strength" to face death, she's a kid with her innocence in tact unlike Naruto and Sasuke. She's also technically going through some serious trauma in part one, but we'll unpack that a bit later. So, I tried to write her more from the point-of-view of a young teen who's discovering the world around her. I feel like her view and character shifts a bit later in the series, so I hope I did this version of her justice.

When Sakura prepared her bag for her first C-Rank mission, stuffing it with all the miscellaneous items she might end up needing, filling her bag with a bunch of “just in case” items - there was so many ways she imagined it playing out, so many scenarios she wrote in her head about how it would be memorable and magical.

Yes, magical. Because, for all intents and purposes, in her hearts of hearts Sakura Haruno was still very much a young teenager. Hitting puberty and discovering who she was and who she wanted to be.

And for a long time, she knew she wanted to be a ninja. But if you asked her Why, she could never give a straight answer – constantly tripping over her words to explain to you what she felt so deeply in her heart.

And yet, when she saw her first enemy, she trembled. Fear ripped through her for the first time, raw and real. Something she had yet to experience. She had been afraid before, afraid of being caught up late or spooked from a scary feature flick. But fear? That emotion was so foreign to her.

It rippled through her as she saw it in everyone’s eyes. In the way Naruto trembled, even though he was not one to do so. He’d always had this carefree attitude about him and, yet, seeing him freeze up in fear she saw the cracks in his façade for the very first time.

And God, was this kid crazy. Stabbing himself with a Kunai all to prove a point. To who? Himself? Kakashi-sensei? Sasuke-kun?

Thinking back on that moment, Sakura can’t help but laugh to herself.

 _This kid is something else,_ she thinks to herself. She feels this fire inside her when she thinks of that moment. Something he didn’t ignite, but like the wind helped grow bigger. In a way, it made her feel alive. But she didn’t have time to unpack what the hell that meant for her. To be quite honest, she didn’t realize that there was even something to unpack.

But, even so, maybe that’s why she helped Naruto understand chakra control a bit better when he asked about walking up trees. Sakura’s excuse was that part of teamwork was assisting your teammates in their weak areas. But maybe it also had to do with her warming up to him. Just a little bit.

She was hoping Sasuke would be the one to reach out to her, taking a metaphorical step towards her. He didn’t. Instead he asked Naruto, who later came to tell her in a hushed whisper of excitement. Poking fun at Sasuke and puffing out his chest Naruto said he planned to keep what they spoke of their little secret.

Sakura found this amusing to say the least but didn’t understand why Sasuke couldn’t just reach out to her. Like seriously, she would be happy for a chance to talk to him and feel useful towards him. Maybe that’s why he didn’t reach out to her, because he didn’t want it to mean something.

 _Ugh, whatever. His loss,_ Sakura thinks bitterly.

Yet, she couldn’t help but wonder what it might be like for things to be normal between them. Maybe if she didn’t have a big fat crush on him it would all be easier, but she couldn’t help how she felt. She was passionate by nature, and increasingly becoming more insecure of that very part of her.

She was so strong-willed, and she followed her heart and acted without thinking. Something that made her brave and she felt powerful when she was like that. Other times, she was so unsure of herself and doubted if she could be like Naruto and Sasuke who seemed to never doubt that they would reach their goals.

Speaking of twiddle dee and twiddle dumb, they were walking through Tazuna’s front door after another late night of climbing trees. Both exhausted.

“Sleep or food, I don’t know which one sounds better 'ttebayo” Naruto said out loud, mostly to himself as he kicked off his shoes.

Sasuke seemed to grunt, either in response or agreement she was unsure.

“You better not go to sleep without taking a bath!” Sakura reprimanded.

Naruto suddenly stood at attention; he couldn’t put his finger on it but something about Sakura always made him a little more on edge. In a good way, even when she called him out. Call him crazy, but he liked when she was this way with him. Did she care? He could only hope, but he dares not ask in fear that she may stop being this way towards him.

“Fine, but you might wanna check and make sure I don’t drown in there because I’m exhausted!”

“I believe Sasuke’s more qualified to do that, both of you better not take too long."

“Hn.” Sasuke’s only form of acknowledgement towards her. Sakura rolled her eyes, maybe it was because he sort of walked in when she was already annoyed at him for not talking to her about what he was having trouble with, but that was neither here nor there. It didn’t stop him from noticing, though, and his only response to her was a smirk and a raised brow.

She felt her heart skip a beat before she reasoned with herself that she was reading too much into what that meant coming from him.

The boys headed her command and were all washed up and in their pajamas in a timely manner.

Sakura changed too and wore a pink long-sleeved shirt with a pair of matching shorts.

Naruto wore a simple blue matching pajama set, with long-sleeved shirt and pants.

And Sasuke wore a black long-sleeved shirt with matching black shorts.

This was the part of the night where the kids started to feel awkward. They were all teenagers at the beginning of puberty, and this was different than other types of missions they had been taught about. Usually, a safe place to sleep isn’t very common on ninja missions and as a result a lot of sleeping took place in the outdoors under the starry sky. Oh, how Sakura would love for that to be the case.

Then she could wear her usual outfit and sleep on her bag and as uncomfortable as she may be with bugs potentially crawling up and down her legs, she at least wouldn’t feel so exposed.

They lay down their matts. Usually Sakura would be given the option to sleep elsewhere, but she didn’t like imposing on Tazuna’s daughter, who slept in the same room as her father due to a lack of space. To make everyone move seemed so complicated considering the fact that Kakashi-sensei was also taking up space in their official guest room.

So, the kids would have to make do. Kakashi-sensei said he trusted his students to not get into trouble.

And for the most part, everyone was too tired to do anything else but sleep. But, today was the exception.

It seemed that everyone was restless. Naruto kept tossing and turning, Sasuke had given up some time ago on getting to sleep in a timely fashion and was currently staring out the window, and Sakura couldn’t sleep when those two boys were obviously doing the most.

So, she sat up and did what any reasonable person would do in that situation and smacked Naruto with her pillow, immediately calling both boys attention to her.

“Seriously, stop moving around so much.”

Naruto groaned, “but I can’t sleep! And I’m so tired! I’m almost like, too tired to sleep, 'ttebayo!”

Sasuke let out a huff of breath, trying to hold back his laughter.

“Don’t laugh at me, teme!” Naruto whisper yelled as he threw his pillow right at the bastard.

Sasuke swatted the pillow away, before grabbing it and throwing it back at the Dobe.

Sakura sighed, rubbing her eyes. “You know what? I have just what we need!”

Naruto and Sasuke shared a questioning look between each other as Sakura crawled to her backpack to get out a smaller bag from inside. Opening it she got a few packages of something and threw them onto her mat. 

“Here, these face masks are super calming,” Sakura chimed cheerily.

“Oh, hell no, I’m not about to do all that girly skincare crap.” Naruto said with folded arms.

Sakura raised a brow, “Skincare is not girly though?”

“Yes, it is! Teme back me up here.” Naruto nodded towards Sasuke.

“Hate to agree with the Dobe, but I’ve only ever met girls who care about this stuff.”

Sakura blinked, “but like, you have to take care of your skin or it’ll get all oily and gross!”

Naruto scrunches his brows, “Like with zits?”

“Duh! And, like, you know how you have to wash your hair? And how you have to clean the rest of your body which is, hello, made out of skin. The same thing goes for your face.”

Naruto is silent here, because damn does she have a point. Sasuke begins to ponder her words.

“But I just use regular soap.” Naruto deadpans.

Sakura’s heart stops. Her hand goes over her mouth, she did not just hear him say that. Slowly she raises a finger to his face. Just as she suspected, “it’s oily, so I’m not sure how well that’s working out for you.”

Sasuke snorts. Sakura gets up and goes over to him and does the same as before, a finger to the face, “funny, your skin is like, really dry. Is it always flaky?”

For whatever reason, Sakura’s closeness intimidates him. It’s not that he’s scared of her, but he can’t seem to understand her. She wears her heart on her sleeve and she’s normally so obviously shy around him and yet here she is. Touching his face like some sort of skin doctor. Blissfully unaware of how he doesn’t let people in his space like this. She’s got this carefree attitude to her, that can only be something that comes from her sheltered life. She’s not afraid to reach out to the people around her. He isn’t either, by the way. He just doesn’t like it when people get too close. He doesn’t want to psychoanalyze the reasons why even if the answer is so obvious to him.

He blinks, his rapid-fire thoughts evade him, and he stares back at her as he slowly moves her hand away.

She smiles, and she’s admittedly too tired to notice that he didn’t completely let go of her hand and instead just moved it away from his face.

Naruto notices though, and he feels weird. He doesn’t like how he feels, and he doesn’t know why he can’t just brush this feeling off as jealousy. It isn’t that, per se. It’s like he can see them and the way they connect in a unique way that either of them may not even be aware of and he begins to wonder if there’s a place for him.

Naruto grabs all the skincare stuff Sakura threw onto her mat and takes a deep breath, “alright, so you make some good points, show me what to do,” he says holding her stuff out.

Sakura squeals and her hand naturally slips out of Sasuke’s as she grabs onto all her skincare items.

“First you need to cleanse, come on!” She ushers them both over, but only Naruto takes the initiative. Sasuke reasons that technically because Naruto is the only one who said anything, she was only talking to him. But he also knows that Sakura wouldn’t mind if he came too. And that truth he finds to be comforting, because he felt some type of way seeing Sakura and Naruto walk together. How does he even put that into words, how odd it is to see them together.

He follows behind them as he contemplates what he sees between them. He sees it in the way they sneak around the house together making sure not to be loud and found out. They aren’t doing anything bad, so Sasuke doesn’t understand what inspires them to act like this.

Yet, here they both are, finding a way to bring amusement to something as simple as sneaking off to the bathroom.

They all walk into the bathroom and since the sink isn’t big enough for more than one Sakura’s walking Naruto through the steps as Sasuke continues to let his mind drift as he looks out the bathroom’s small window. Normally, you wouldn’t be able to see in or out, but the window was left open to let the steam out. Guess Naruto forgot to close it.

Sasuke sees the stars and he can see one that looks so bright it might just be a planet. Maybe Venus? Or more likely Mars? He can’t remember which ones are better seen at this time of year.

Sakura quietly reprimands Naruto for getting water everywhere and he sheepishly apologizes.

Sakura can be so harsh towards Naruto, Sasuke muses as he thinks of how his teammate can be so rough around the edges when she’s with Naruto. She’s more herself around Naruto and that irks Sasuke for some reason. Naruto changes around her too, he’s more sheepish and less loud and in her face.

Like they complement each other in a way. Opposite ends of the same spectrum.

“Sasuke-kun?”

Sasuke snaps his head up, looking over at Sakura.

“Your turn,” she smiles softly at him.

He does what needs to be done and the two boys then begin to moisturize before the three of them sneak back into their little room.

Sakura has them put on face masks, explaining their many benefits. She starts to look through her bag for her travel alarm clock to make sure they don’t leave them on too long. A book falls out in all her rummaging and she doesn’t seem to notice as she sets an alarm.

“Wow, you sure have everything in there.” Naruto quietly states. 

“You can never be too prepared!”

“Hey what’s this?” Naruto says picking up the book.

“Huh?” Sakura looks over at Naruto before her eyes grow large, “Oh, uh, that’s my astrology book” She says shyly.

She never meant for them to notice this, but it was a gift from an old friend, and she had always wanted to bring it on a mission with her. Had daydreams of doing so when she received the book as a gift.

“Like with the planets and stuff?”

“Yup, haha, I like reading about them and I thought I might have a chance to do stargazing and learn all the stories behind the constellations and stuff and what they mean.”

“This is like about zodiac signs and stuff, though right?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Oh, I like to read my horoscope!”

“Really??” Sakura was shocked to hear that, to say the least.

“Yeah it’s fun, even if it is just a bunch of crap, its kinda cool to think that maybe destiny is real, and things happen for a reason and you can sort of figure it out just by looking at the stars and planets.”

“That’s surprisingly deep for you.” Sakura says. She’s suddenly fascinated by this new discovery about her teammate. She almost thought that he would write it off as something “girly” again. Like it’s a bad thing or something.

Sasuke is also shocked to see that his teammate is into something so out of his character. Or he supposes he doesn’t really know Naruto's character all that well - even if there are somethings in his teammates heart Sasuke can relate to, even without knowing all the facets of his personality.

“I have my moments,” Naruto says before sticking his tongue out at the pink haired kunoichi.

Sakura giggles, “What’s your zodiac sign?”

“Libra 'ttebayo.”

Sakura’s mouth drops, “really?”

Naruto nods.

“I’m an Aries!”

Naruto and Sakura share a look before pointing at each other, “sister sign,” they say in unison before chuckling a bit.

Sakura thinks she gets it now. Why Naruto and she seem to be alike and different in some rather polarizing ways at times. Because of astrology.

Sasuke gets it know too, because according to the stars and planets they are literally on opposite ends of the same spectrum. Surprisingly similar and drastically different all at once. At least, according to the info Naruto and Sakura are currently regurgitating at each other.

He doesn’t like it in a way, doesn’t see where he fits in all that. Doesn’t understand what it might be if he were to be in the middle of polarizing ends. What metaphorical spectrum are they even on? Maybe passion, Sasuke muses, because if there’s anything those two are – its passionate.

“Sasuke-kun when were you born?” Sakura asks, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“July 23rd.”

“You’re a leo, hell yes, fire signs lets go!” Sakura says excitedly.

Sasuke looks at her questioningly, “What does that mean?”

“Fire is our signs element! It means we’re passionate, impulsive, a little self-centered and dramatic, loyal, and protective although Leos are quieter about it than Aries.”

“You are loud.” Sasuke is teasing her, but his tone is flat so she can’t tell.

Naruto snorts, “Such a Leo.”

Sasuke gives him a look. Sakura agrees with Naruto though, “Leo men tend to be quieter but every once in a while, they let loose and have fun.”

Sasuke rolls his eyes trying to think of a retort but Sakura’s alarm goes off.

“Ooop! Okay, let’s take these off now~”

The boys follow suite, rubbing the excess…is face mask juice the right term here…into their skin.

“You know I do feel better 'ttebayo.” Naruto says softly.

Sakura claps her hands together, “I’m so glad to hear that!”

Naruto yawns in response, giving her a small smile. Sakura yawns because she saw Naruto yawn and Sasuke yawns because he saw Sakura yawn.

The three of them are tired and somehow calmer. And the awkward tension that’s been in the air the past few days due to them sharing a room has dissipated.

They sleep soundly.

If you were to ask Sakura what she most remembered from her time in the Land of Waves, it would be the moment on the bridge when she thought Sasuke was dead and she felt real and all-consuming fear for the second time in her life.

After that, she might mention seeing Naruto stab himself with a Kunai because it was the type of hardcore crazy that only Naruto was capable of.

She wouldn’t even think of that night that they did face masks until later. Much later, after the conversation had moved onto something else.

So, it would soon become a hidden memory. A moment that bubbled to the surface sporadically, when she needed something happy to think to herself about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a second part to this, which occurs right after they get back from the land of waves. I'll be working on it and as always I appreciate your patience.


	4. Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When we get older, we never really say "oh let's be friends."
> 
> It sort of just happens after events bring us together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two to the Land of Waves arc.

Sakura’s world was always bright, always filled with wondrous highs and easy to deal with lows. Or at least, it was easy for her. She took everything in stride, learning to hold her head up higher every year she got older.

Ino taught her this, someone she was pained to think about.

See for all her astrology talk, Sakura felt so drawn to her sign as an Aries and it’s element of fire. Fire, it burns everything. She can burn so many things away from her, it’s easy. It’s why she burned away Ino when she realized her feelings for Sasuke weren’t going away.

It was what let her take all of Sasuke’s rejections in stride. See, Sasuke was always interesting to her because he never flat out said that he hated her and wanted her to keep away.

Even when she tried to take a step towards him and asked him to get something to eat together as they walked on the bridge they had just fought to defend – he wasn’t cruel or mean about it. He just gave his honest answer and that was that.

Things like that helped give her hope that she hadn’t totally shot any chance she had of growing closer to him.

Sure, he had called her annoying at one point. But, in his defense, she spoke out of turn. Sakura had reflected on this, but she hadn’t meant to offend him or even to belittle Naruto for being an orphan. She just tripped over her words, but it didn’t matter what she meant. It’s what she said.

Yet, she realized maybe she misspoke because she was being careless with her words.

Maybe, she misspoke because in her world everything was easier. Her parents were merchants, she was from a civilian background and was blessed with a sheltered life. One that saved her from experiencing the severe pain of loss.

If she were to be honest, Sakura was so shaken by the almost loss of Sasuke. She had never experienced something like that. Death had never touched anyone important to her, so she didn’t know how to cope and that’s why she asked him out to meal. She wanted to sit with him and see if he was okay.

Yet here Sasuke was, walking normally. Like nothing was wrong, like nothing happened.

She didn’t understand it at all.

Naruto too, he seemed completely normal. He walked with his hands behind his head and a smile on his lips. Like nothing happened.

But here she was, shaken up. It was all sort of sinking into her now.

Team 7 walked together, having just reached the Land of Fire recently. They were expecting to walk through the gates of Konoha at sunset right before the gates to the village were sealed off for the night.

For the most part, Team 7 walked in relative silence. Kakashi-sensei read his book. Naruto was humming a song, Sasuke walked alongside him with his hands in his pockets and Sakura was a few steps behind the two boys.

She looked between them and sighed.

“What’s wrong Sakura-chan?” Naruto asked, turning his body slightly towards her as they continued to walk.

“Nothing’s wrong, don’t be silly.”

Sasuke turned to her then and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She looked away from his gaze.

“You know, Sakura, it’s not nice to lie to your teammates.” Kakashi-sensei chimed in from behind.

Sakura let out another sigh, “It’s just…I don’t know how you two do it.”

“Do what?” Sasuke asked.

“Just keep going like nothing is wrong! I mean Sasuke you almost died, how are you acting totally normal?” She says, touching the white sleeve he always wore on his arms.

Sasuke shrugs and she drops her arms, silently reprimanding herself for acting overly friendly. Not that Sasuke minded, but she didn’t need to know that.

“You too Naruto!” Sakura points at the blonde boy, “How can you act all cheery after everything?”

Naruto stumbles in his step for a second before shrugging.

“Do you feel like you can’t act normal, Sakura?” Kakashi-sensei chimes in again. He still hasn’t looked up from his book.

Another sigh, “I’ve never been through something like that.” Sakura admits.

“You’ll have to be prepared for things like that if you truly want to be a ninja.” Kakashi-sensei states.

Another sigh, “I know.”

“C’mon Sakura-chan, it’s something you’ll get used to ‘ttebayo.”

“Naruto why did you become a ninja?”

Naruto pauses surprised by her question. He stumbles in his step once again.

“I guess…I want to be my own strength.”

“Be your own strength?”

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve never really had anyone to lean on or depend on….so I figured that becoming a ninja was the way to be that for myself. The Hokage dream came a little later ‘ttebayo.” Naruto says with a toothy grin.

Sakura sees how his smile doesn’t really reach his eyes. To be his own strength, it’s admirable and she can relate to that desire.

“Why did you become a ninja?” Naruto asks. Sasuke turns his head a little at this, interested in hearing the answer. She’s never really indicated why she wanted to become one and it does seem rather rare for a child of a civilian lifestyle to desire something so strenuous. Curiosity killed the cat as they say.

Sakura pauses, because this is always a question that’s difficult for her to answer. It’s just something she felt she needed to do, something she felt she could do. But, it’s hard to give all the reasons why this was the life she wanted for herself when her reasoning was based on feeling and not the simple logic of self-preservation.

Sakura looks forward, her thoughts are spinning, and she answers honestly, “Because it’s what I’m meant to do, there was no other option.”

Maybe they won’t understand but hopefully it’s enough, because her parents make her feel like it’s not enough even if they support her decision, nonetheless.

“I love that.” Naruto says softly.

Sakura and Sasuke snap their heads towards him. He’s got this dreamy look on his face before he notices their stares, “What? I-I don’t mean anything by it, it’s just I do like that reasoning. It’s like, you just followed your heart no questions asked.” A small blush forms on his cheeks.

Sakura smiles, “Thanks, you’re the first person to not be weird about it when I tell them.”

“I admire your honesty.” Sasuke offers, because while he doesn’t understand how she could act on her feelings alone it resonates with something in him. That inner child that he hasn’t completely lost that used to be the same exact way. Following his heart and passionate to a fault.

Sakura looks at Sasuke with a shocked expression.  
A blush then spreads on her cheeks.  
Naruto notices and looks away.  
Sasuke notices Naruto and then starts to feel conflicted.

And then, Sasuke starts to feel conflicted over the fact that he feels conflicted.

Maybe it was the whole he almost died for the Dobe thing, but he felt weird knowing that in some ways Naruto might have a thing for Sakura and that Sakura might have a thing for himself instead of Naruto.

I mean, if he’s willing to die for the guy maybe he should respect his feelings towards Sakura. Potential feelings because technically Sasuke doesn’t know.  
And since he doesn’t know and just has a feeling, he shouldn’t let it get to him so much.

Sakura is still blissfully unaware of Sasuke’s inner turmoil and is elated at his compliment towards her.

Kakashi-sensei watches his students from the back and chuckles to himself that they never seem to notice when he’s observing them. When he watches over his students, he can almost hear them overthink.

Kakashi-sensei is reminded of his youth, when he was the same way. A pang of nostalgia hits his heart, but it doesn’t stop the smile that creeps onto his face. Not that anyone would notice. He hopes he can keep them this way just a little bit longer. Innocent. Their biggest day-to-day problems being self-inflicted teenage angst, not weighed down so heavily by the burden of living.

When he looks over his students, he feels lighter, like they make life easier. He hopes the same is true for his students. He hopes that when they chat with one another and form a bond, that it makes things easier to bear. Especially for Naruto and Sasuke who carry such deep hurts in their heart. Kakashi-sensei can only hope that the three kids of Team 7 can help make each other’s lives all the more brighter.

Kakashi-sensei plays around with these types of thoughts, as he secretly observes his students.

The sun begins to set as Team 7 walks through the gates of Konoha, and they go on to do their usual routine. They debrief at the Hokage tower and Iruka-sensei almost has a heart attack hearing about the horrors his former students had to face.  
Eventually, he calms down after Naruto reassures him that they “totally kicked butt at the end of the day ‘ttebayo.”

Iruka-sensei gives Naruto a pat on the head, letting him know how proud he is of him.

Naruto smiles wide, his heart feeling full all of a sudden.

Team 7 takes their payment and the children are ushered out as Kakashi-sensei is asked to stay for further debriefing.

“Why do you think they made Kakashi-sensei stay behind?” Naruto whispers over to Sakura as the three teammates exit the building.

“Maybe he had to go into more details about everything that went down, I mean we all know that mission was not something they would send a basic Genin squad on.”

“Hmm, good point.” Naruto nods along. It’s at that moment that his stomach growls. Loudly. Embarrassed he tries to laugh it off, looking at his two teammates that seem amused by him.

That is before their stomachs growl as well, just as loud.

“I’m hungry, we should get something to eat!” Sakura says.

Sasuke shrugs because he already technically turned her down when she asked to eat a meal together just the two of them, but now it would be the three of them which felt more appropriate.

“Yeah let’s get ramen, ‘ttebayo!”

“You are always eating that crap Dobe, Sakura’s right how have you not died from too much sodium?” Sasuke says in monotone.

“When did I say that?” Sakura wonders.

“When, uh, we all ate together that one day.”

“You remembered that?” Naruto wonders.

“Us eating together? Why wouldn’t I?”

“No, I mean, you remember what she said?”

Sasuke pauses. Sakura purses her lips, “It doesn’t mean anything, he just has good memory, right Sasuke-kun.”

“Right.” _Why does the Dobe want to read into such small things so suddenly, and why did Sakura of all people brush it off?_ Cue the overthinking.

“What if I made you guys another homecooked meal, my parents would be home this time though.”

Naruto freezes, “Uh, I’m, uh too hungry to wait. Heh.” He is not about to be thrown out of a house just because his teammate forgot that everyone in this damn village hates him for reasons that are not his fault, and that probably includes her parents too.

“Oh, yeah I guess I am too, let’s try and eat something we all like, yeah?” Sakura offers.

After a bit of debating, the three decide to eat at a sushi restaurant that’s all the rave in town and still offers something on the menu that everyone would like.

Naruto is nervous to say the least, because as much as he loves ramen, the reason he exclusively eats at Ichiraku’s is not solely because he loves ramen. It’s because that’s the only restaurant that’s welcomed him. He doubts he’ll be blessed with the same kindness wherever it is they’re going.

They walk into the establishment, and Sakura’s overly excited to see that they have her favorite syrup covered anko dumplings and starts raving about them to the boys.

They wait at the front to be attended and seated as they discuss what they might try as they look at the specials on the small menu that’s set out on the podium for guests in the foyer.

Time seems to move slowly, and both Sasuke and Sakura are confused as to why no one has come to seat them or at least ask how many their party is.

“This is ridiculous, I understand it’s the dinner rush, but we’ve been standing here for fifteen minutes!” Sakura huffs.

Naruto’s heart sinks. He has a sneaking suspicion as to why no one has come up to them. He begins playing with his fingers, a nervous tick he’s developed. Normally he would just brush this off, but the last thing he wanted was for his teammates to suffer because of him. Or worse, to see what he faces on a day-to-day basis.

“Excuse me!”

 _Crap Sakura-chan’s already calling someone over, maybe I should just say I’m too broke to eat here…. right, we just got paid that wouldn’t make any sense._ Naruto thinks to himself in a panic.

Sakura ushers over an employee, “Excuse me, we’ve been here for almost twenty minutes and no one’s walked over to even get our party size! And you guys are supposed to be known for your customer service. Seriously? What’s going on here?”

Sasuke stands behind Sakura, a glare apparent on his face as he looks up at the male employee who seems to be nervous.

“Uh, well, you see, it would simply make the other customers upset if we were to –”

“What seat some young ninja back from a mission?!” Sakura’s getting angry now.

Naruto starts to feel guilty. It’s his fault.

At that moment what appears to be the manager walks over to the three kids, “Excuse me, what seems to be the problem here?”

“Hello, are you the manager?” Sakura asks as she crosses her arms.

“I am.”

“Good, I’ll have you know that I’m very upset at the lack of attention to your customers. We’ve been waiting here about twenty minutes and have yet to be attended to.”

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, little lady, but unfortunately we cannot seat you.”

“I- what? Excuse me? And why the hell not?” Sakura’s voice begins to raise with each question.

“Because of him.” The manager points to Naruto, holding out his finger and giving the blonde-haired boy a look of disgust.

Naruto gulps. Sakura blinks. Sasuke’s glare intensifies.

“What does he have to do with anything? He hasn’t even done anything!” Sakura half yells at the manager.

At this point, the other customers attention turns towards the group and Naruto begins to feel overwhelmed.

“Sakura-chan, listen, it’s fine. I’ll go get some ramen and you two can enjoy the food here.”

“Uhm, it is absolutely **not** fine.” Sakura snaps.

“She’s right Dobe, I believe that this violates discrimination laws.”

The manger laughs, “Oh foolish little children, why get so angry for that little monster when he probably wouldn’t hesitate to –”

“Sir, please you know we aren’t allowed to talk about that.” The waiter interrupts all of a sudden, panicked that his manager is about to break the unspoken rule.

Naruto has had enough, because honestly fuck that rule. Why the hell aren’t they allowed to talk about it? Why was even he kept in the dark about himself? Why must he always suffer for the things he has no control over? That shit is too much, it hurts him too much. He walks right out of that restaurant and doesn’t look back. He walks quickly, his anger guides his steps as far away as possible. He almost doesn’t notice that Sakura has run out after him, Sasuke following suite shortly behind her.

“Naruto, wait!” Sakura calls after him.

Naruto turns briskly. His anger is making him tremble. He reminds himself to breathe. In and out.

“What?”

“You can’t just let them talk to you like that Naruto, I don’t know what his problem was but it’s just not right!”

Naruto laughs because boy does he know it’s not right. Does she think he doesn’t know it’s wrong that he’s treated this way? That he sure as hell doesn’t deserve to be treated this way?

Sakura’s determination wavers, she wants to stand up for him and march right back into that restaurant and demand the service they’re all entitled to.

Sasuke’s caught up to him and he doesn’t know what to say. This is the part he can never relate to with Naruto. Sasuke suffered his pain, but the all-consuming hatred in his heart is the fault of only one individual. He lost everything but never faced constant rejection. Naruto never had anything, and he is constantly rejected. Sasuke doesn’t understand why. It makes zero sense to him. No one deserves that kind treatment, not even the Dobe.

While unaware of it, Sasuke and Sakura are having a mutual experience of realization. Because, this must be what it’s always like for Naruto.

Sakura feels like she might cry, she’s always been an easy crier. When something makes her feel deeply, she can’t help how her body reacts to the onslaught of intense emotion. And boy does Sakura feel something intense, because she never wants Naruto to be put in the sort of position to be rejected by someone who can willingly be so cruel to the thirteen-year-old boy that stands before her. She feels pain. She doesn’t know if she’s allowed to because she’s simply watching it happen. But she feels it, nonetheless.  
Sasuke feels angry. Because, I mean, this is someone he put his life on the line for. Someone he saw worthy of protecting and since he still stands by that belief, he’s angered to see someone he cares about be treated that way.

The looks of understanding dawn on the faces of Sasuke and Sakura, not because they understand even a fraction of what Naruto’s life may be like but because they care about him and they are now understanding that about themselves. They care for Naruto. He’s their…friend?

The long silence that sits between them as everyone analyzes themselves internally is broken by Naruto turning on his heel and saying, “Just go eat, I’ll be fine. Always have been, always will be.” He prays that his friends see through his façade, because he wants nothing more than for them to follow him and choose him.

Maybe it’s an angel in heaven or the hearts of three young children who have been tied together by incredible events that have left a mark on each one of them that answers Naruto’s silent prayer.

“Yeah right like I’m gonna eat in a place like that.” Sakura scoffs picking up the pace to catch up to Naruto.

Naruto’s anger begins to melt away.

“The service was awful.” Sasuke deadpans as he catches up to the two.

Naruto’s anger completely dissipates.

Sasuke’s comment gets a genuine chuckle out of Sakura and Naruto.

“Jokes already?” Naruto teases.

Sasuke rolls his eyes, turning away from the blonde with a small smile on his lips.

They eat at Ichiraku Ramen.

They each love their meal, and it makes them feel warm inside and fills up their stomachs and their hearts up a bit too.

The teammates say their goodbyes in front of the little restaurant bar and head their separate ways excited to get home and showers and sleep.

On their way home they allow themselves to ponder tonight’s events.

Naruto wonders if this cements the fact that the three of them are truly friends, regardless of how they might get on each other’s nerves from time to time. He wonders if this means they care about him.

Sakura realizes how much she cares about the two, she wonders when exactly that happened, but she hopes they care about her too.

Sasuke wonders if they can truly be friends, if he’s capable of letting people in. He wonders if he’s can allow himself the vulnerability of being close to and caring for others.

_They do._   
_They do._   
_You can._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still mapping out how I plan to dance around the chunin exams, but I will hopefully have that up soon. Thank you if you've read this far.


	5. Starry Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She wishes she knew what they were asking of her. If they wanted her comfort or if this all goes back to that stupid rivalry, and since she’s on their team she’s the one who has to be stuck in the middle of it. Both figuratively and literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst, but only slightly.

It’s cold, that’s the first thing Naruto notices as he sits on the ground in a state that lays between asleep and awake.

He’s not quite asleep, but he wishes he was. He’s blinking slowly, it’s his turn to keep watch and he’s exhausted.

Desperate for some relief. He can feel the demon inside him, stirring. Responding to his hosts unrest.

Naruto is shaken up, to say the least. Not that he shows it, not that he even lets himself feel any of the grief that constantly threatens to bubble up to the surface and explode in red fury.

They’re in the forest of death, him and his teammates. He can hear Sasuke’s short uneven breaths, Sakura’s whimpers and sniffles. She’s been crying. She always cries when she’s overwhelmed, as much as she hates herself for it.

Naruto pities her for a moment, because of all people she’s the least prepared to handle what they’ve all gone through. Somewhere deep down, he knows his friends are lying to him about something, but for the life of him he can’t figure it out. He wishes he were like Shikamaru, analytical and quick to see things hidden beneath the surface.

No one has ever taught him how to do that, but to be fair no one’s really taken the time to teach him much of anything.

Sakura gasps and even though he’s not next to her, Naruto can almost feel her tremble.

He closes his eyes and breathes, trying to steady himself.

He wants desperately to reach out to her, but he does not know how to. He’s bad at comforting people when it counts, he thinks. Yes, he can speak from his heart and reach out to people who might understand his agony, but Sakura is so far removed from that.

He wonders if this is the worst thing she’s ever faced. If the time they’ve spent together is filled with her first painful memories. If she’s realized what he’s known along, that living can be quite painful and people incredibly cruel and evil for seemingly no reason.

He thinks back to the snake guy who had Sasuke shaking in fear, willing to back down.

Naruto opens his eyes and looks over at the black-haired boy.

He looks worse for wear today. Tomorrow they’ll be waking up to the fourth day of their time in this forest, and tomorrow there will be no choice but to go back into the conflict headfirst if they have any hope of moving onto the next stage of their exam.

But tonight, they can sit still and pretend to rest.

Naruto glances back up at the sky. A memory plays over in his head, of a starry night not so long ago. A mission that followed their time in the waves, when they had to travel to a town on the outskirts of their village. Not too far at all, a day’s trip.

They had decided to set up camp for the night on the way back, lay in the grass and sleep under the illuminated sky.

Sakura had been so happy, stating she loved how she could see an array of stars under the sky, each one seeming to blink and shimmer so brilliantly that night.

Naruto looks up and the sky is pitch black, unstirring and disorientating.

He remembers how they slept that night. Sakura in the middle, Sasuke to her right, Naruto to her left and Kakashi-sensei with his back to their heads.

He remembers feeling safe. A sigh escapes Naruto’s lips. He’s so tired. The kind of tired that sits in your bones and makes you feel heavy.

He notices a shadowy movement and his heart rate increases for a second before he relaxes. It’s Sakura, she’s sitting up and rubbing her face.

Naruto looks at her, focusing in on her hair. Her hair that’s been cut short, she won’t exactly tell him what happened. Any time he’s tried to bring it up, she looks away and deflects. Sasuke tenses whenever he gets curious and he feels like he’s being left out again.

He wants so desperately for it to be the three of them, for it to always be the three of them. He doesn’t want there to be one odd man out, and that’s not just because right now he is that odd man.

Odd and curious because he loved Sakura’s long hair, thought about what it would be like to run his fingers through it. Now it’s short and she won’t even tell him why. He never presses the subject when he asks and notices the tension in her shoulder or the strong gaze Sasuke fixes her with. He lets it go, even if it doesn’t sit right with him.

“You still have a few more hours before it’s your turn, Sakura-chan.” Nartuo says in a raspy voice.

She slowly turns her head towards him, her arms are wrapped around herself. “I can’t sleep.” She says simply.

Naruto gives her a nod and walks over to her. Sits next to her, “planning to keep me company then?” he says with a bump to her shoulder. 

She smiles softly, a rare smile he’s never truly seen fixed at him. Even now it technically isn’t. She’s looking at the ground.

“Yeah, if you want me to.”

“Of course, ‘ttebayo.”

They sit in silence for a while, both tired and trying to stay aware of their surroundings.

Naruto yawns.

“I know you’re still drained from…” Sakura begins before trailing off, not entirely sure how to describe their encounter with that snake freak.

“I’m fine, I’ve always been a quick healer.”

“Maybe your body, but I’m not sure about the rest of you.” She says, it’s barely above a whisper and for a second she hopes he hasn’t heard her. She’s not even sure why she’s said what she did, what she truly means by it.

Naruto’s gaze is glossy as she looks over at him, and it’s like he’s far away. His mind suddenly emerged in memories and emotions she may never fully understand.

She takes a breath, ready to apologize because she’s realized maybe she has a habit of putting her foot in her mouth when she doesn’t even really mean to be offensive.

Naruto’s head turns sharply, “Don’t.”

Sakura’s mouth closes and she looks at him with a confused expression.

“Don’t apologize, not when you’re right.”

_What the fuck is that supposed to mean?_

They stare at each other.

“I know you’re lying to me about Sasuke, that somethings wrong and you two have decided not to tell me.”

Sakura looks at Naruto with wide eyes now. Sakura’s heart quickens, and she feels herself begin to shake. A nervous habit. She always shakes when she’s spooked, scared, or in trouble and right now she feels like she’s all three as Naruto’s piercing blue eyes stare into her sea foam green ones.

 _How does he do that?_ Inner Sakura questions frantically, angry that she’s been caught with nothing to say in her defense.

Naruto, with all his faults, always manages to hit the nail on the head when it comes to the nature of people’s hearts.

He may not understand, may not notice exactly where he’s hit a nerve. But he always manages to say something that does.

“He’s made me promise.” She finally admits.

His blue eyes shine, he frowns.

“Okay.” He concedes.

“I’m so–”

“I told you, _don’t_.”

She still doesn’t understand. She silently prays that maybe one day she will.

She observes him for a moment, his knees are pulled up to his chest and he has his arms wrapped around himself. His face is blank, however.

“The sun will be up soon, you should sleep.” She knows he’s tired, and she wants to offer him relief if he won’t accept an apology.

“I’m too tired to sleep, ‘ttebayo.” He admits.

“Lay down for a bit, yeah?” She reaches out to him, puts her hand on his arm. He looks at it, tense but doesn’t push her away the way Sasuke does.

She wonders how many people have touched him, simply offered him the comfort of a hand on a shoulder and a pat on the back.

She made a mental note long ago about how he’s weird about physical contact, like it’s foreign to him. How he seems starved for touch, constantly grasping for it but scared of the sense of it.

Sasuke is the same, but more intense. He tenses with a sharp intake of breath that screams fear. Where Naruto experiences a tentative curiosity, Sasuke expresses an intense disdain when experiencing physical touch.

Naruto does as he’s told without compliant for once.

The ground is soft and warm and inviting and maybe he’s more tired than he realized.

Sakura lays down next to him, and he looks over at her with a raised eyebrow.

“We’re surrounded by traps we’ve set up, and the water to our right will help protect us. I’m not going to sleep, but I’ll lay down with you.”

A flash of emotion, gone as quickly as it came, passes through his eyes. He looks at her and it feels as if he’s speaking to her in a silent language. One she doesn’t understand. One she’s sure Sasuke does.

As if he feels himself in her thoughts, Sasuke shifts and then groans.

He seems to be healing, now it’s just the mental stress he needs to release. At least, that’s what Sakura thinks as she turns towards him.

She touches the back of her hand to his forehead, relieved that he no longer has a fever.

He probably feels sore, which is better than hurt.

Sakura lays on her side, facing away from Sasuke and towards Naruto. To be honest, it kills Sakura to see Sasuke in pain when she can’t do anything about it. Call her weak, but she can’t look.

Naruto is still fixing her with an intense gaze, like he wants to say something to her but doesn’t know how to form the words.

He looks away but moves a bit closer, justifying his movement by thinking to himself how he doesn’t want to wake Sasuke up and he’s only moving closer so that it’s easier for her to hear him.

She doesn’t move away from him.

“Will he be okay?” His voice is barely above a whisper.

“Yes,” Sakura states without hesitation, “he has to be.”

“Okay.” Naruto responds after a moment.

They’re so close now. Sakura feels Naruto’s breath on her. He’s turned towards her, but he isn’t meeting her gaze anymore.

Another groan and Sakura turns away from him again. Naruto finally looks at her, not that she can notice now.

Sakura sighs and looks at Sasuke. He’s on his side, facing her now but his eyes are squeezed shut.

Not knowing what to do, Sakura reaches up to his dark hair and brushes it out of his face.

Sasuke’s eyes flicker open, and the first thing he sees are her green eyes.

And then, Naruto’s sharp blue ones looking at him over Sakura’s shoulder.

Sakura’s frozen and she realizes she’s still touching his face. She slowly begins to pull away.

He doesn’t like the loss of contact and he absolutely despises that he’s even noticing it, let alone missing it.

No one dares say a word.

A bitter chuckle escapes Naruto’s lips before he can stop himself.

Sakura frowns.

Sasuke glares.

Sakura turns towards Naruto.

Sasuke’s not sure why, maybe it’s the mental exhaustion, but he moves closer to Sakura.

Only Naruto seems to notice that Sasuke’s done that.

Naruto’s looking at him, and Sasuke returns his stare steadily.

Sakura looks between them and wishes she also knew the unspoken language they always seem to share.

Naruto and Sasuke both move closer to her, until their shoulders are both touching her. She’s still somewhat turned towards Naruto, so she feels awkward in the position she’s in. 

There’s so much she wishes she understood in this moment.

She wishes she could understand what their silent stares mean, why they’ve moved closer to her but can’t seem to look at her and acknowledge she’s _there._

She wishes she knew what they were asking of her. If they wanted her comfort or if this all goes back to that stupid rivalry, and since she’s on their team she’s the one who has to be stuck in the middle of it. Both figuratively and literally.

Sasuke touches her elbow ever so slightly.

Her heart beats loudly in her ear.

_What if he’s just doing that to get a rise out of Naruto?_

Naruto starts to curl into her, his head barely on her shoulder.

_What if he’s just doing that to get a rise out of Sasuke?_

Both thoughts send a pang to her heart. She’s dizzied with insecurity and anxiety.

Naruto reaches out first, because he **knows** he has to. Sasuke would never do it, _could_ _never_ do it first.

Gently, as if he’s unsure, he puts his hand on top of Sasuke’s. His fingertips barely touching the back of Sasuke’s hand.

Kami, does Sakura wish she knew their unspoken language now more than ever because what the actual fuck does any of this mean?

She’s relieved though, that she’s close to the both of them.

That they’re alive and she can feel both of their breaths on her, almost feel both of their heartbeats.

She does not speak their language, but she still knows one thing with certainty.

When the sun rises and brings with it reality, they won’t speak of this. That this is a rare moment of comfort between the three of them.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Sakura says, and she’s not sure if she’s really said it because she’s mumbled the words as quietly as possible not wanting to shatter whatever this is.

Naruto and Sasuke tighten their grips, and all three hold each other close.

They’re okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like always, thank you for your patience.


	6. Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke hates the silence.
> 
> Sasuke hates his brother, who has instructed him to hate in order to achieve revenge. 
> 
> If hatred is the answer to revenge, does this mean there is no room for love?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some angst, but mainly a lot of contemplating.

Sasuke is haunted by the silence now more than ever.

His home is as empty as the silence feels, and the silence feels like the darkness of night. Vast, and seemingly never ending.

The silence reminds him of how he woke up. Alone in the hospital room following the preliminary Chūnin exams.

He remembered Kakashi-sensei taking him away to help him seal the cursed mark, or better said, restrain the toll the cursed mark was having on his body.

He opened up his eyes and as he allowed them to adjust to the brightness of the plain room, he was haunted and horrified. For a brief moment, he felt like a child all over again, waking up in the hospital room after the events of the night that forever changed the course of his life.

As the fleeting moment passed, he noticed a white rose in the corner of his room. _Sakura_.

And then he didn’t feel like the child he was, the one who woke up a traumatized orphan who lived his parent’s death in some horrific time loop.

And then, that’s what started to scare him. He _didn’t_ feel alone.

So, he got up, and sought out a nurse and checked out of that hospital room as quickly as possible.

Kakashi-sensei found him in no time, like he had secretly been watching and waiting for him to wake up.

He was at his door to offer him training, to help him prepare for the actual exams, that would be taking place in a month.

Sasuke remembers staring at his sensei outside his doorstep for a moment, wondering if he should invite him in before deciding against it and asking if they could go right away to begin his training.

Kakashi-sensei didn’t seem to be surprised by his eagerness, but it was hard to tell with only a quarter of his sensei’s face visible to him. Only one eye to try to gage emotion from. Sasuke’s always wondered why his sensei chose to hide his face and if he’d ever be allowed to see it.

And so began his month long training where he was to learn how to wield a dangerous lightning-nature jutsu.

He fell into a seamless routine and it was when his month-long training was almost over that he realized he had yet to see his –

What are they to him? Just teammates? Maybe friends?

Sasuke doesn’t want to call them friends, but he can’t stop thinking about them so it’s futile to deny to himself what has become as plain as day.

He notices their absence, which might mean that he misses them but admitting that to himself is terrifying in of itself.

Because what you can miss, can be taken from you. What you care for can be destroyed.

Sasuke doesn’t want something that can be taken from him, doesn’t want to love and lose again.

He was just a boy when he first lost everything. A mother, a father, a brother, a family.

And now he almost felt like he could have a new family, one that he chooses.

_The blood of the battlefield is thicker than the water of the womb._

And he has seen blood, so much of it. Some of his own, some of his enemies, some of his loved ones.

He’s been pouring everything into his training, because he _needs_ to get stronger. Now more than ever.

If he were to allow himself to care, to love, to miss, to desire his two comrades he would have to live with the fact that Naruto is an unpredictable dumbass and Sakura is a defenseless crybaby.

Which means, he has to be strong enough for the both of them because if he can’t put his faith in knucklehead Naruto, then he **can’t trust** the dumbass to avoid serious injury. And if he can’t but his faith into crybaby Sakura, then he _can’t_ _trust_ that she will come into her own and learn how to be strong enough to protect herself.

He has to think about all three of them and their safety and protection. He is desperate to be strong, because if he cares and this is a big **if** , then that also means that he must protect that which he cares for at all costs.

When he trains with Kakashi-sensei, he often questions his motivations in the moments in between training and rest. When he goes to get water, when he takes a breather to allow his chakra to replenish, he wonders how badly he wants revenge compared to how badly he wants to protect his friends. 

He almost hates how strongly he feels for them both.

It’s like Sakura lit a match and threw it into a pit, to allow a fire to burst and burn.

It’s like Naruto is the wind that keeps the fire alive and breathing.

Sometimes, Sasuke feels like he’s being touched by this personified fire and he’s afraid he’ll be burned.

His heart has begun to want things he shouldn’t want, wrapped up in the memory of unspoken moments that are soon to become fleeting memories under the weight of adulthood.

He’s also been remembering his confrontation with Orochimaru. How he was offered power by this terrifying force of chakra and skill.

The curse mark scares him too, because it has unlocked a craving. A thirst for power and the quickest way to it. But it means he has to make a choice and he’s not sure what the right one is.

He remembers the mark burning his heart as the power it provided him with consumed him. He saw red the moment he laid eyes on Sakura and he realized she was badly hurt.

He supposes this is proof that he cares, but he remembers feeling something intense and possessive in that moment. He felt an emotion he did not know the name of.

He needed to hurt whoever hurt his friend. Because she was his teammate, making her his responsibility.

While the power of the cursed seal felt like a taste of a drug, he was too young to be experimenting with, it had been Sakura’s tears that had served as the antidote for sobriety.

He was scaring her, and that was reason enough to stop.

He made her promise not to tell Naruto, because he would fuss and get angry and he didn’t want to hear about how he was cared for by him of all people. He would worry. And he didn’t want to make Sakura cry and he didn’t want to make Naruto worry.

* * *

He’s done with training for the day, and he’s lying on the ground attempting to catch his breath. Kakashi-sensei bring him his water like he always does after each exhausting day and sits next to him.

Sasuke thinks his sensei might be smiling but he can never tell.

Sasuke wants to ask his sensei about his two other teammates but has no idea how to bring it up without seeming overly interested. He’s not sure why he even commits to pretending to seem disinterested, but it’s familiar which means it’s safe.

“How long are you going to keep waiting for me to bring them up?” Kakashi-sensei breaks the silence first.

Sasuke raises his eyebrow, not wanting to show interest but not wanting his sensei to drop the subject either.

“I’m sure you want to know about your –” Kakashi-sensei pauses as if contemplating his next words, “teammates. I know you’re at least curious as to how they’re doing and how they did in the exams.”

“I’m sure Naruto passed, and Sakura failed.” Sasuke says plainly.

“Actually, Sakura’s match ended in a draw. She fought quite impressively.”

Sasuke’s mouth twitches upward, he wishes he could have seen it.

“Naruto won his match,” Kakashi looks upwards towards the sky. “it was unconventional as most things are with him.”

Sasuke snorts, knowing to expect nothing less from the Dobe.

“She visited you, which I’m sure you realized.”

Sasuke feels a pang in his chest, he masks the reaction from reaching the surface and showing on his face.

He remembers the white rose. He actually took it home with him. It’s pressed in between some books for now. His mother had shown him how to press flowers, and he’s not sure why he felt the need to hold onto that flower, but he did.

“Now she’s been going to see Lee,” Kakashi-sensei mentions casually, as if he’s commenting on the weather.

Sasuke’s eye twitches and his lips go into a thin line.

“Naruto’s also been checking on Lee as well, apparently he went to go see him recently.”

Sasuke’s jaw tightens.

“She brought him a flower as well.”

Sasuke’s eyebrows furrow.

“Naruto actually helped save Lee from being killed in his hospital room by the sand nin who’s going to be your opponent in the final exams.”

Sasuke turns his head at this, shock apparent in his face as he sits up.

“If Naruto and Shikamaru hadn’t gotten there in time, Lee would have been killed. Thankfully, they were able to confront him and buy time for Guy to show up. No fighting broke out, but it was still a tense situation.”

Sasuke nods letting go of a tension he didn’t know he was holding.

He looks up at his face and notices his sensei’s one eye. The only part of his face he shows, as if he’s hiding behind his mask that acts as a barrier.

A barrier from what, Sasuke is unsure. But he sees the way his sensei’s eye is glossed over. For a moment, his teacher seems far away as if his mind is somewhere else.

If he was as bold and untactful as Naruto, he might just have asked what that look in his eye means.

But he is not Naruto, so he does not ask.

“At least the Dobe avoided a fight, he loves getting into those too often for his own good.” Sasuke says, bringing his sensei back to him.

Kakashi chuckles.

“Sensei…can I ask you something?”

Kakashi looks over at Sasuke with a guarded expression but says, “Of course.”

“Does Naruto have a Kekkei Genkai?”

Kakashi seems surprised by the way his one visible eyebrow shoots up, “Not that I know of, why do you ask?”

“His eyes, they change. Like mine, I’ve seen them change.”

“When?”

“In the forest, when we were fighting his eyes were…” Sasuke trails off and he wonders if he should be mentioning what he saw, deciding it might just be better to drop the subject.

“Were they red?” Kakashi-sensei asks before Sasuke can drop the subject he’s brought up.

“Yes.” Sasuke responds, fixing his sensei with an intense look.

“That’s not a Kekkei Genkei.” Kakashi says flatly.

“Then what is it?” Sasuke demands.

“Only Naruto can tell you that.”

Sasuke pauses.

There’s something he doesn’t know about the Dobe and that fact doesn’t sit right with him.

“Why can’t you just tell me?” Sasuke pushes.

“Because it’s not my place, if Naruto feels comfortable enough to share then so be it.”

Sasuke’s face is tense as his mind begins to shuffle through every interaction with Naruto looking for a clue.

“I don’t think he’ll ever tell me.”

“He might, if he trusts you enough.”

Sasuke’s gaze darkens, and he turns his head away from his sensei, looking forward.

Trust. A wretched thing. Something earned. Given to comrades and friends.

Can you care for someone and not trust them?

Does Sasuke trust Naruto? To have his back, yes. With his secrets? He’s not sure.

“Does Sakura know?” Sasuke’s unsure why he asks, but the curiosity trumps his caution and has the words out of his mouth before he can think better of it.

“No, I’m fairly certain Naruto would rather she didn’t know.”

What does that mean? How bad of a secret can it be?

“But he told you?” Sasuke inquires.

Kakashi-sensei pauses, “No.” He says cautiously.

Sasuke makes a face and he fixes a glare at the view in front of him.

“How can you know something about him he hasn’t told you?” Sasuke demands, turning his head once again towards his sensei.

A long silence passes and Sasuke is about to repeat his question, but then Kakashi-sensei stands.

“I know too much about him that he will eventually find out.” Kakashi offers a hand to his student.

Sasuke takes his teacher’s hand and stands before brushing the dust off his shorts.

“Why can’t you just tell him?”

“Because he’d be angry.”

“What, is he scary when he’s angry?” Sasuke half-jokes, because he’s seen the Dobe when he’s half angry and half annoyed and he just seems like an annoying brat if anything. 

“Yes.”

Sasuke scowls. He doesn’t understand and these half-assed answers are starting to piss him off.

How can his sensei, who is a Jounin, be afraid of a little angry Genin?

“Why?” Sasuke snaps.

“Because of those red eyes.”

“What is he?” Sasuke tries to keep the aggravation out of his voice to no avail.

“You’re teammate.” Kakashi-sensei answers in a tone that lets Sasuke know he isn’t going to get much more out of him.

“I know that much,” Sasuke grumbles more to himself than anything. Crossing his arms and picking up his water before walking away.

If Sasuke had been paying attention, he might have noticed how the tension in his sensei’s shoulders drop as the subject meets its end.

Kakashi feels relief, because whatever it was that Sasuke saw in that forest wasn’t enough to scare Sasuke away. Not that he thinks that his student really ever would be afraid of Naruto. But what lays dormant in Naruto’s body? He hopes that his student could look past that if he were to ever find out the truth. Kakashi watches Sasuke’s form grow smaller in the distance. He’s frowning behind his mask. He hopes, prays to a God he does not believe in, that Sasuke is never on the receiving end of the monster within Naruto. And, if fate cannot bless him with this, Kakashi asks that Sasuke not see Naruto as a monster if he were to ever be faced with the power Naruto has as a vessel for one.

* * *

Sasuke is home and it is silent.

He drops his keys on the counter with a clang and places his food on the counter. He picked something up on the way home and he’s hungry and ready to eat.

The kitchen chair drags across the floor, making a loud noise that grinds Sasuke’s teeth.

The plastic bag crumples as he digs through it, pulling out one container with rice and another with chicken and veggies.

He clicks the containers open and grabs the chopsticks his meal came with.

They snap as he pulls them apart.

He savors the taste of his food as he chews excitedly.

It is silent.

He finishes his food and throws the empty containers away; they fall to the bottom of the trashcan with a _thunk_.

Sasuke walks to shower so he can rest for the night.

He turns on the faucet and his clothes fall to the ground with a soft thump.

The water soothes his sore muscles. The water falls all around him, droplets falling after one another with a soft patter that drums against his skin and tiled shower floor.

He turns off the faucet and grabs his towel to dry off.

It is silent.

He dresses for bed. Black long sleeve shirt and pants to keep him warm in his unusually cold apartment. Recently it’s felt empty and cold in his space and he hates it.

He lays in bed, closing his eyes.

He thinks of Naruto and Sakura, how he hasn’t seen them in almost a month, and wonders how they’re doing.

He thinks of his brother too, in the dark of night it’s impossible to avoid the image of his brother bubbling to the surface of his mind’s eye.

He remembers how his brother told him that hatred is the answer to strength.

What is the opposite of hatred? Sasuke ponders. Is it love? He questions.

If hatred leads him to strength, then would love leave him weak?

Naruto and Sakura flash in his mind again. Them smiling at him. Sakura blushing at him. Naruto poking his tongue at him.

Sasuke doesn’t realize that he’s smiling as he remembers his teammates.

He sees Naruto teasing Sakura in his mind’s eye and Sakura reprimanding Naruto. The three of them laughing and sharing a meal together after a mission. Sakura and Naruto engaged in a rapid-fire conversation about some rapper they both love.

He sees Naruto saying something silly.

He sees Sakura acting scandalized.

He sees himself saying something smart, earning a sharp look from Naruto and a laugh from Sakura.

Then the image shifts and blurs and he feels a sense of intimacy at the images his mind produces next. He can’t place when he’s seen these faces on his teammates, but he just knows that he has at some point.

He sees Naruto blushing because he’s embarrassed.

He sees Sakura smiling at him softly.

Then, he sees his brother’s red eyes telling him hatred is the answer.

Sasuke opens his eyes to the surrounding darkness.

It is silent, and the silence is deafening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thank you for your patience.


	7. Stay with Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following the Konoha invasion, Naruto feels conflicted as he is expected to mourn the passing of the Third Hokage.
> 
> Some pent up feelings come up to the surface.
> 
> Team 7 are there for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst.

If you asked Naruto to make a wish for what he wanted most in the world, more than anything else, it would be to have his parents alive with him. To have a family to come home to, to have a sister to fight with and a brother to pull pranks on.

If you asked Naruto to pick who he wanted to be part of his family, Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei would be the ones he would offer as the parents in this dream world. Iruka-sensei would be the one to always make sure he was well fed, watching out for him and nurturing him.

Kakashi-sensei, on the other hand, would be the one who let him get away with all his pranks. Not one to fall for them, but one to turn a blind eye and let Naruto’s mischievous side see through all his crazy ideas.

If he were to imagine a brother and sister, he always wonders what they would look like. If they would look like him or not. Naruto doesn’t know if he looks more like his father or mother, and he wonders if he looks like a mix of both or more like one over the other. He can’t imagine what having siblings might be like, and he’s tried to picture Sasuke as his brother and Sakura as his sister. Somehow, that doesn’t quite feel right, but he still feels so deeply in his heart that if he was given the choice that those two would be his chosen family.

Naruto deeply cares for both Sasuke and Sakura, thinking of them often and smiling when he remembers the times he’s spent with them both.

So, when Konoha finds itself under attack and he has to defend his village, he truly only imagines himself defending the village for his two closest friends’ sake.

When he sees Sakura knocked unconscious and wrapped up by sand stuck to a tree, panic sets in his heart. A voice deep within the psyche of his mind stirs, and immediately begins taunting him.

_You’re weak, you can’t protect your friends_.

Sasuke is by him and he’s been weakened thanks to the curse seal, or whatever, but he’s also at his wits end. Naruto begins to worry, because he knows that whatever it is about the curse seal that Kakashi had told him about – it’s taking from Sasuke as much as it’s giving to him.

_If you can’t protect them, how can you expect them to care about you?_

Naruto’s not sure how normal relationships are supposed to work, but he’s horrified that if his friends see him as incapable of protecting them then they’ll leave him. Naruto doesn’t understand friendship, or love, or even what it truly means to care for people. All he knows is that his heart and instincts are begging him to do something.

_I can’t lose you. I will protect you._

So, Naruto does what he does best. He follows his heart. He protects his precious friends no matter the cost. He’s grateful for his training because it’s what saves his life.

He has an empathetic bleeding heart, so when the battle is over and done with, he can’t help but cry for his opponent. A lonely reject just like him.

Gaara. Alone, and hated for being something he did not ask to be.

Naruto understands that so profoundly, because he is so many things that he did not ask to be.

The battle ends and Naruto’s heart is the only thing still bleeding.

* * *

The news of the Third Hokage’s death is a shocking one, sending ripples throughout the entire Land of Fire.

When the news first reaches Naruto’s ears, he feels a mix of shock and something else. Something he does not want to name, because if he calls attention to it a whole bunch of other issues will be unlocked.

A funeral is planned for the fallen Shinobi who put their life on the line in order to protect their village.

Naruto meets up with Sasuke and Sakura before heading to the funeral. They walk in complete silence.

Each are weighed down heavily by their respective thoughts, and Naruto can’t even begin to imagine what his friends might be thinking.

But it’s almost like he can _feel_ what they do, and if he had to guess then Sakura is probably feeling heartbroken and Sasuke is feeling something darker. Something Naruto doesn’t have the word for.

The funeral is met with rain, a dark sky creating a damp scene below almost as if to set the mood. Many people shed tears or wear defeated faces.

Naruto feels so many emotions bubbling inside him, but he pushes them down unwilling to analyze all that they might mean.

Konohamaru is crying to his left, and Naruto puts a comforting hand on the young boy’s shoulder. Wanting him to be sure he knows he isn’t alone.

The funeral ends shortly after a few words of hope are given to those in attendance.

Naruto spots Hinata a few paces up from him and finds her for a brief second.

“Hey.” He says when he reaches her.

“N-Naruto-kun?” Hinata seems shocked that he’s talking to her. Naruto’s realized that she’s always like that and at one point thought it was because she was like the other villagers who disliked him. That she took it a step further and feared him, turns out she was just a little bit weird. Or, at least that’s what he thought.

“Did you see me and Neji?” Naruto asks plainly.

“I-I couldn’t see the whole fight, b-but I heard all the details about how you won from Shino-kun. Y-you were probably amazing.” A blush spreads across her face.

A small smile graces Naruto’s lips, “You think I got through to him though?”

Hinata seems to ponder this for a moment before saying, “I-I – well, yes, I think you did, just, well just a bit, but that’s just the right amount. I-I can work with that.”

“I made a promise to help change the Hyūga clan once I become Hokage, and I don’t make promises unless I intend to keep them.” Naruto is now fixing the pale girl with a determined gaze.

“I-I, uh, well I think that’s very kind of you Naruto-kun, and I trust you will keep your promise, but I-I, uhm, well, I also have to do my part. I-I think it’s most important that, w-well, that I have a role in changing things. F-for the better.”

Naruto nods at her, “I think you can do it.” He smiles warmly at her and she smiles at him too.

“Well, I’ll see you later Hinata-chan. Take care.”

“Y-you too, Naruto-kun.”

They wave goodbye at each other before Naruto turns around and looks for his two teammates who are already waiting for him.

Sakura is on his tail the minute he’s close to her and Sasuke, “I saw you talking to Hinata, what was that all about?”

“Nothing don’t worry about it,” Naruto says placing his hands in his pockets.

“Don’t worry about it?” Sakura begins as she crosses her arms, “You two have never talked before, I just want to know what the special occasion is.”

“Don’t worry, Sakura-chan you’re still my number one girl.” Naruto responds cheekily, nudging at Sakura’s arm.

Sakura snorts at him, but there’s a soft smile on her face for a reason she wouldn’t be able to explain.

Sasuke rolls his eyes behind the two, half annoyed and half endeared by them both. He’s been feeling conflicted following the events of Konoha’s invasion but isn’t currently paying attention to it in observance of his Hokage’s passing at the hands of the very same man who gave him the cursed mark on his shoulder.

“I’m hungry and I’d rather not be home right now, let’s go somewhere to eat, yeah?” Sakura suggests softly, she’s been dejected and emotional at the news of the Third’s death and wants to spend more time with her friends.

“I don’t want to be around other people right now, just you two.” Naruto says somberly.

“Let’s just eat and head back to one of our places.” Sasuke suggests, because he honestly feels the same way. He doesn’t want to be alone, not until he has to be. Right now, the idea of being with his closest friends and pretending that the outside world and its problems don’t exist is too appealing of an idea.

The trio nod in a silent agreement and decide to each get whatever they want to eat and bring it back to Naruto’s place, since his home is the closest to the different restaurants that they all want to go to. 

Naruto is the first one to arrive at his home, with to-go containers from Ichiraku Ramen in hand.

Looking around, Naruto to begins to feel a bit self-conscious. His home is a run-down apartment that’s been neglected for many years. The building he lives in was the only one that was willing to house him. He doesn’t even have furniture for his friends to sit down on.

He had been hoping that Sasuke would offer up his apartment instead, but Sasuke had said he didn’t want to be in his home either, that it was too cold there. It was a lame excuse by Naruto’s standards, but he hadn’t been in the mood to argue.

Naruto placed his food on his table, before moving it away from the center of the room. Pushing the one chair he did have beside it. He picked up the trash and put in a big and hid that bag in his room. Then, he grabbed some pillows he had bought at a flea market a few years back and brought out a low tea table he owned. He watered his Fan palm plant and brought out a few tiny aloe plants he had on his balcony to set around his living space.

He’s not sure why he feels self-conscious about his two friends being in his home but he hopes they didn’t think it was a crappy place to live even though sometimes it was. He then decided to light his favorite incense, Jasmine, to help make the space feel inviting and warm.

Naruto was beginning to wonder if his friends had gotten lost from the directions he gave to his home, when he heard a knock at the door.

Opening it he was greeted with the sight of Sakura and Sasuke. He let them in and noticed the increase in his heart-rate.

“It’s not much, but uh, it’s home.” Naruto said quickly.

Sakura looked around thoughtfully, “It’s nice.” She said warmly.

Naruto felt a tension he hadn’t realized he was holding dissipate. Guiding his friends to the small tea table they all sat down and began pulling out their respective meals.

They began eating in silence, commenting on the food and offering the others a bite if they’d like.

At some point, seemingly out of nowhere, Sakura began crying.

“What’s wrong?” Sasuke asked awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

As tears kept falling down the pink-haired girls face Naruto found himself moving closer to her.

“You can talk to us, ‘ttebayo.”

“I-It’s just, I’ve never lost someone before. I know it’s stupid, but I just don’t know how to react. I never got to meet either of my grandparents, they died the night the Kyuubi attacked, so I don’t know it’s like, ugh, I don’t know…the Third was like the villages grandpa or something.” Sakura said as she wiped away the tears that continued to stream down her cheeks.

Naruto’s heart was in his throat, Sakura had lost her grandparents during the Kyuubi’s attack? If she was to ever find out that he had that **monster** inside him, would she hate him?

“Yeah, he was always kind to me.” Sasuke said, bringing himself closer to Sakura’s other side almost reaching out to put his hand on her shoulder before hesitating and putting his hand away instead.

Naruto swallowed as he felt his throat constrict. He was overwhelmed by a number of emotions that he wished he could just ignore.

“What about you Naruto?” Sakura sniffles at him.

“Huh?”

“Well, weren’t you two close? You always talked to him like you were.”

Naruto felt something claw at his heart, “I wouldn’t call us close, I just talked to him however I wanted to.”

“Dobe, you were definitely one of his favorites, I mean he gave us a C-Rank mission all because you whined at him to give you one.”

“I doubt it was because I was one of his favorites.” Naruto says bitterly.

“What are you talking about Naruto?” Sakura has stopped crying now and she’s looking at him with a demanding gaze.

“I –” Naruto cuts himself off, suddenly turning away from his friends.

“It’s okay,” Sakura places a reassuring hand on Naruto’s shoulder, “my mom says we all mourn differently, whatever it is you’re feeling – there’s nothing wrong with it.”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Naruto shrugs Sakura’s hand off him, pulling his knees into his chest and wrapping his arms around himself.

“Not unless you explain it, Dobe.”

“You know he never told me what happened to my parents?” Naruto says in a harsh yet quiet tone, “Anytime I asked, he would tell me it was useless to want to know about people who were already dead.”

“Maybe he just didn’t want you dwelling on them,” Sasuke said, eyes becoming glossed over as he recalls his own parents.

“Who is he to decide that?!” Naruto’s breathing is becoming short. That red, hot fire inside him begins to stir. He hates it. He hates the monster that’s stuck inside him. He hates not knowing who his family is. He hates having no clue who that makes him either. Did he come from a ninja clan or were his parents’ civilians like Sakura’s?

“You have no idea what’s like, to not even know which parent you look most like or if they even loved you or if they even wanted you!” Raw pain is ripping through Naruto’s heart as it pounds loudly in his ear.

“I know you don’t know for sure, but I know they would have loved you.” Sakura says softly.

Naruto whips his head towards her, he’s biting back tears.

“How can you be so sure?” Naruto asks weakly.

Sakura’s response is almost immediate, “What’s there not to love?”

“Everything.” Naruto says as he begins to sob.

The Third Hokage knew he had a tailed best inside him, knew he was ostracized as a result and still he did nothing. Sure, the Third was one of the few people who never outright treated him with contempt, but it didn’t make up for all the things he did allow. Naruto was so sure that Hiruzen knew his parents, knew something about them but refused to let Naruto know anything about them. Not even their names. How could he be a Hokage and _not_ know them? Especially if they had been ninja.

He was neglected at best and harassed at worst in this village and the Third Hokage didn’t do a damn thing to stop it. He was abused at the orphanage he stayed in until he was about five and taken out for fear of it killing him. Memories flooded his mind of beatings he had taken and blood he had spilled over dirty tile flooring in dirty showers he hated more than anything else in the world.

The Third Hokage knew, and he was expected to mourn him? What was worse is, he did feel affected by his loss. He felt depressed that Hiruzen, who had at least treated him decently, was gone. It was the first time he experienced this kind of loss. Whenever he would silently mourn his parents, he couldn’t picture anything. Now, however, he had a face and a name and memories that were all dampened with the reality that the person in them met a brutal death.

Naruto doesn’t even realize that Sakura’s hugging him from his right side and Sasuke’s leaning on his left side until he feels Sasuke’s breath on him and hears Sakura’s own whimpering.

Naruto leans further into Sakura and she holds him to her chest, grabbing Sasuke’s hands at some point to wrap them around Naruto and herself.

“I’m so sorry.” Sakura whispers softly into his ear. He shivers, but he doesn’t understand why.

Naruto turns to look at Sasuke, there’s a single tear falling down his face. Naruto reaches up and wipes it away without a word.

They sit in silence for a while, holding onto each other. None of them are really sure of what to say.

Eventually it’s Sakura who breaks the silence, “I have to pee.”

Naruto and Sasuke immediately burst into laughter. Sakura points her tongue out at them before rubbing the back of her neck.

“No one’s stopping you.” Sasuke says, getting up to stretch his legs.

Sakura goes to leave and find the bathroom in Naruto’s small apartment. She apparently walks into the wrong room because both boys hear an “oops,” before she seemingly finds where the bathroom really is.

“Uhm…” Naruto suddenly feels uncomfortable, like they were in a trance of some sort until only seconds ago.

“Sakura was right,” Sasuke offers, “We all mourn differently. You sounded like you’ve been holding that in for a while, good you finally got it out.”

“Yeah…” Naruto decides to get up and get himself a glass of water, feeling a bit dazed.

“Naruto your room is a mess, please tell me it isn’t always like that,” Sakura says as she walks back into the living area.

Sasuke snorts, “I knew something was off when I saw how clean this space was.”

“Heh, I do try and clean though, but I’ve been falling behind not gonna lie."

“Oh, let me help you then, we can do a deep clean.” Sakura offers because she’s just seen the boy crying and she wants to help him in some way, show him he’s cared for.

“Uhm, alright, yeah, you can come by whenever ‘ttebayo!”

“Don’t expect me to come along too.”

Sakura giggles and Naruto rolls his eyes at Sasuke’s little quip. They fall into a comfortable silence as Naruto begins rummaging amongst his things for something.

“Whatcha looking for?” Sakura wonders.

“Uh,” Naruto begins, “got it!” He pulls out a beat-up records player, placing it on the floor.

Naruto runs to his room really fast before returning with a record in hand seemingly seconds later, handing it over to Sakura so she can see it.

“Oh my gosh, I love her!” Sakura says excitedly. Sasuke peaks over Sakura’s shoulder and immediately recognizes the name. His mother played this record around the house all the time.

Naruto is also feeling excited, happy to turn on some music and end the evening on a much lighter note. He doesn’t really mind crying around his friends, he doesn’t feel ashamed by it. But he doesn’t like staying in that headspace for long. And sometimes music is the best answer to sadness.

Naruto puts the record on, a compilation of the artists greatest hits.

Her voice comes on softly as her mezzo-soprano voice fills up the room. The trio listen and hum along quietly until the song gets to their favorite part,

“Staaaay with meeeeeee,” They each begin to sing a bit off key, getting up to dance around the room.

Sasuke taps his foot along to the beat.

Naruto is really into it and is moving along smoothly to the song.

Sakura keeps twirling around and around.

“Staaaay with meeeeee,” they sing again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for your patience.


End file.
